1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a liquid crystal display, and more particularly to a multi-domain liquid crystal display device that is adapted to improve an aperture ratio and a view angle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a liquid crystal display (LCD) tends toward wider applications by virtue of its characteristics such as lightweight, thin thickness and low power consumption, etc. Accordingly, the LCD has been used for office automation equipment and video/audio equipment, etc. The LCD controls a transmitted amount of light in response to a data signal applied to a plurality of control switches arranged in a matrix to display a desired picture on a screen.
However, the LCD has drawbacks in that a viewing angle is narrow and that a displayed picture quality is considerably deteriorated when viewed from a side direction thereof. In order to solve these problems, there have been made various studies for assuring a wide viewing angle. Accordingly, a multi-domain method has been suggested as a result of such studies. This multi-domain method uses an orientation control electrode for controlling orientation of liquid crystal cells in a different direction for each sub-pixel area (i.e., domain) for each pixel. Each pixel is divided into at least two sub-pixel areas. Such an orientation control electrode is formed in such a manner to surround the periphery of the pixel electrode to control an electric field applied to the liquid crystal, thereby adjusting an orientation of the liquid crystal in a plurality of orientation directions. A multi-domain LCD device provided with the orientation control electrode will be described below with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2.
FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a structure of a conventional multi-domain LCD device. In FIG. 1, when a scanning signal transmitted from a gate wire 16 is applied to a gate electrode 20, a data signal applied, via a data wire 6, to a source electrode 8 is transmitted to a drain electrode 18. The multi-domain LCD device having the structure as shown in FIG. 1 is provided with an orientation control electrode 14 surrounding the periphery of a pixel electrode 12 so as to implement a multi-domain. A cross-section taken along line A-Axe2x80x2 of FIG. 1 will be described in detail in conjunction with FIG. 2.
As shown in FIG. 2, a gate insulator 4, a data wire and a protective film 10 are formed at the upper portion of a first substrate 2. The upper portion of the protective film 10 is provided with the orientation control electrode 14. Since the pixel electrode 12 provided at the protective film 10 is a real areas to which a light beam is transmitted, it consists of a transparent electrode made from a transparent conductive material. The orientation control electrode 14 is supplied with Vcom to control an electric field applied to the liquid crystal, thereby adjusting an orientation of the liquid crystal. Accordingly, the conventional LCD device has the orientation control electrode 14 formed at the periphery of the pixel electrode 12 to implement a multi-domain, thereby widening a view angle. Since it is difficult for the orientation control electrode 14 to provide a uniform orientation direction, a deteriorated viewing angle may be caused. Also, since each pixel is provided with an opaque orientation control electrode 14 at the periphery of the pixel electrode 12, a light-transmitted area of each pixel by an amount of space equal to the area occupied by the control electrode 14. This causes a problem of reducing an aperture ratio of each pixel.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a multi-domain liquid crystal display device that is capable of improving aperture ratio as well as viewing angle.
In order to achieve these and other objects of the invention, a multi-domain liquid crystal display device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a first pixel electrode connected to a drain electrode; a second pixel electrode formed to surround the periphery of the first pixel electrode; and a resistor formed between the first and second pixel electrodes.
A multi-domain liquid crystal display device according to another embodiment of the present invention includes a first pixel electrode connected to a drain electrode; a second pixel electrode formed to surround the periphery of the first pixel electrode; and a transparent electrode formed between the first and second pixel electrodes to have a desired resistance value.
A multi-domain liquid crystal display device according to still another embodiment of the present invention includes a first pixel electrode connected to a drain electrode; a second pixel electrode formed to surround the periphery of the first pixel electrode; and a semiconductor layer formed between the first and second pixel electrodes to have a desired resistance value.